Second anime cafe based on films of Summer Wars’ Mamoru Hosoda now open in Japan

After spending the summer in Tokyo, the cafe moves to another major Japanese city.

Mamoru Hosoda is strongly associated with summer. As one of the few anime directors whose projects truly catch the attention of the mainstream Japanese media and public at large, his films are usually released during the peak summer vacation season, and the word even shows up in the title of one of his biggest hits: 2009’s Summer Wars.

Hosoda generally takes three years between films, so with his most recent work being 2015’s The Boy and the Beast, we probably won’t be seeing his next anime for some time. But there was still some Hosoda excitement to be had in the summer of 2016, when a Mamoru Hosoda anime-themed cafe opened for a limited time in Tokyo. This month, the restaurant reopened in Osaka, and it’s even added a few new items to its menu in the process.

Officially called the Tokikake Cafe (from Toki wo Kakeru Shojo, the Japanese title of Hosoda’s breakout hit The Girl Who Leapt Through Time), the restaurant serves food and drink inspired by each of the director’s four major anime movies. That includes, of course, the establishment’s namesake, which is represented by the tempura shrimp (1,680 yen [US$15], includes salad bowl to take home) and pudding (1,380 yen) seen in the movie, as well as latte art Timeslip Coffee (680 yen).

Hosoda’s follow up to Tokikake was Summer Wars, often remembered for the virtual world animal avatars featured in the Kari Kenji and King Kazuma Burger Plate (1,480 yen) and Kari Kenji Mango Smoothie (1,080 yen, includes keychain).

Finally, if you’re just a fan of Hosoda’s work in general, you might want to order the Summer Sky and Cumulonimbus Soda (713 yen), modeled after the atmospheric characteristics so often seen in a Japanese summer and Hosoda’s anime.

Food orders come with a Tokikake paper place mat, while each drink includes a coaster bearing character line art.

And as is the norm for themed cafe in Japan, there’s an attached gift shop selling all manner of associated merchandise, such as water bottles, keychains, and drinking glasses.